Desmond Pang’s career began in what many would consider a safe and secure (if slightly mundane) field: in civil service. He was with the Singapore Armed Forces for seven years, and then an educator with the Ministry of Education for another eight.

For many, either one of those careers would’ve been a solid enough foundation to set them up for life. But Desmond left all that behind, spurred on by his young and bright-eyed students during his time as an educator, to challenge himself and take a leap of faith — and he became a hawker stall owner.

Image: Desmond running his hawker business

This, however, turned out to be a short-lived venture mired with difficulties and was shuttered in under a year. Within the next four years, he would attempt two more self-made ventures, but one after the other, they proved to be unsustainable and faced the same unfortunate end.

Moreover, by his third struggling attempt, the weight of his failed dabblings had become increasingly difficult to bear. Having enjoyed a comfortable income previously, this entrepreneurial journey was now taking a toll not just on his finances but his mental health. In 2021, Desmond suffered a transient stroke, which forced him to take a step back from his business.

Having to take a break was a tough but needed call, and it took Desmond a year to get back to his feet. In that time of both mental and physical recovery, he mustered the courage to embark on his fourth venture: Stark Media, a creative media agency. The agency offered an extensive suite of digital, media management, and production services at an opportune time when businesses were making the move to embrace digitalisation. Desmond poured all his learnings from past failures into it, and it is now poised to achieve a seven-figure annual revenue by 2024.

Image: Desmond and his Stark Media team

Since its modest beginnings with just three members in 2022, Stark Media has been called to service clients across Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Korea. Their extensive portfolio includes Ayamas, the Wow!Taiwan Project, Singapore Food Festival, SAFRA, and many more.

From army man, teacher, and first-generation hawker, to present-day digital agency man — Desmond Pang, Stark Media founder has come a long way. We would like to invite you to speak to Desmond who can share more about these:

• Making the switch from a career in government to entrepreneurship
• How he built Stark Media to what it is today
• His journey of physical and mental recovery, and what kept him from giving up

About Stark Media

Founded in 2022, Stark Media is a Singapore-based creative media agency that offers a vast suite of services, being a one-stop solution for businesses’ creative needs. This includes livestream and video production, copywriting, graphic design, social media management, advertisement and events management and even web design/development. Their unique 360-degree offering places the agency as a bridge between online and offline marketing strategies.